Terence Crawford was gushing over the performance of WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), saying he’s not “ready for Canelo” after his sixth round retirement win over Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Crawford was pouring the praise over the head of ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, calling his performance an “A++” one, giving him high marks for his pressure and punch variety against the 35-year-old Andrade, who looked like a fighter several divisions above his natural weight class of 154.
Crawford: Benavidez “ready for Canelo”
“He looked spectacular. He did wonderful. A++,” said Terence Crawford to Fighthype when asked about his reaction to David Benavidez’s victory over Demetrius Andrade last Saturday night. “He’s [Benavidez] one of them,” said Crawford on whether Benavidez is ‘one of the best offensive fighters’ in boxing.
Is Crawford ready to fight Benavidez?
What was interesting to watch how Crawford sped quickly away when asked if he’d like to be the one to fight ‘The Face of Boxing’ Canelo Alvarez next. Bud took off like someone had given him a hotfoot, and he would not respond to that question.
You can interpret Crawford’s decision not to throw his hat into the ring for a fight with Canelo because he was well aware of the reaction from the fans and the interviewer.
Now, with the way things are set up. The next question would have been to Crawford: ‘Are you ready to face Benavidez to get the Canelo fight?’
If Crawford wants the opportunity to move up three weight classes to challenge Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) for his undisputed super middleweight championship, fans & the media would want him to face Benavidez in an elimination type of contest, where the winner gets the prize.
The loser is vanquished forever and will NEVER get the chance for the retirement golden parachute money against Alvarez.
“I mean, he’s relentless, it’s pressure, but it’s smart pressure. He’s coming behind his jab, throwing straight punches, he’s going to the body up and down,” Crawford continued about ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. “He’s just got to tighten up a little on his defense, but other than that, he’s good. He’s ready for Canelo.”
It would mean more if Benavidez tried his relentless pressure style of fighting against a better class of fighters, such as David Morrell or Dmitry Bivol.
Is it asking too much of Benavidez to break from his mold of padding his record against no-hopers to face actual talented fighters? Chris Williams doesn’t want to put Benavidez out by wanting him to fight Bivol, Morrell, Artur Beterbiev, or Jai Opetaia, but aren’t those the guys he should be fighting to earn a shot at Canelo? I’m just saying.
The one who will decide whether the Canelo-Benavidez fight will be made isn’t Crawford. It’ll be Canelo, and he’s got so many options available to him that it would make your head spin.
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old Benavidez, he will probably have to keep winning and proving himself until time immemorial before he’ll get that shot against Canelo.
Benavidez claims he’s the REAL champ at 168
“I just reminded everyone who the real champion at 168 is,” said Benavidez. “Who wants to see me vs. Canelo? Just give me the fight that we all want to see,” said Benavidez, trying to get the fans to pressure Alvarez on his behalf.
Nah, Benavidez is NOT the real champion at 168, but if it helps his political campaign to try and get the Canelo payday, you can understand why he would attempt to pass himself off as the true champ in the super middleweight division.
It makes Benavidez look cheap & lazy for him to try and embellish his status by calling himself the champion prematurely without actually earning it. It’s like an enlisted soldier calling himself a general and expecting to be soluted and placed in charge of troops. You can’t do that.
If Benavidez wants to be the #1 fighter at 168, he’s going to have to earn it by taking on the killers in the weight class, starting with David Morrell.
That should be Benavidez’s next target if he wants to earn the top spot at 168 rather than lazily calling himself the “real champion.” The way Benavidez is trying to pass himself off as the best at 168 it’s pathetic because he’s not earned it.
If Benavidez wants that honor bestowed upon him by the fans & the media, he needs to get off his backside and earn it by beating these fighters:
– David Morrell
– Jermall Charlo
– Jai Opetaia
– Janibek Alimkhanuly
– Carlos Adames
– Diego Pacheco
– Dmitry Bivol
– Artur Beterbiev
Moving forward, Benavidez needs to choose younger fighters, preferably ones that are natural to the 168 or 175-lb divisions, because it doesn’t help him if he’s going to be hand-picking small 35-year-old guys who just recently moved up to 168 and looked awful in their previous fight in the weight class.
Even Benavidez acknowledged that Andrade had looked poor in his debut at super middleweight against journeyman Demond Nicholson last January, which indicates that his fight with Demetrius was a designed cherry-pick.
